


In A Perfect World

by MarleyMortis



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Feels, Fluff and Angst, How things should end in my perfect world, Light Angst, M/M, Reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 02:06:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18273611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarleyMortis/pseuds/MarleyMortis
Summary: The Avengers return from the Quantum Realm victorious.  Thanos has fallen.  The world must recover.  Some reunions have long been awaited.  This is what would happen if I were in charge of writing the mid-credit scenes.





	In A Perfect World

The Avengers emerge from the Quantum Realm into a world forever scarred by The Snap. They do not return whole, but they return victorious. Each one bears new scars. They have loved. They have lost. They have fought. They have nearly died. Each gladly would have to erased their failure against Thanos. Some have died.

Maria Hill and Fury await them when they return to Avengers Compound, Scott Lang's van carrying the Quantum machine tottering along the paved road past the various security measures. The debrief is long and involved. Given their level of exhaustion, the amount of heartsickness they carry, it's another torture combined with what they've already been through.

Three days later, each surviving Avenger is given a packet of information bringing them up to date with the current state of the world. Not everyone who turned to dust has been restored. The government, especially, has suffered considerable losses. Emergency elections are underway to fill the positions left vacant by those who haven't returned.

Steve doesn't care about any of that. His work is done. Maybe in another five years he'll emerge from his apathy into a world he feels needs his particular brand of activism. For now, he's tired, so seeing the address and the keys inside his packet gives him the energy he needs to roll his bike from storage.

One prevailing thought follows him over the miles of pavement: Bucky wasn't at Avengers Compound. Sam wasn't there either. Some of the people he loves best didn't return from The Snap, and it makes his heart sore, like a splinter has lodged itself inside his heart, driving deeper with every breath he takes. He's suffered loss before but never on such an overwhelming level. It sucks. But he can do this all day.

The address in his packet leads him to Brooklyn and to a restored Brownstone in a neighborhood much nicer than he's ever owned. He's lived out of the Tower and out of Avengers Compound but not out of a space of his own, not really, since awakening from the ice. His apartment in DC wasn't home. It was a place he rested his head at night. Same with Sam's place in the weeks following Project Insight.

The Brownstone is well-maintained. A small flower garden dots the tiny front yard. Red shutters decorate the exterior of the windows. The door is also red and neatly trimmed with original woodwork. Someone has put a lot of care into making the place vintage. Another pain squeezes his heart as the splinter burrows deeper.

He keys the front door open into the foyer. Doors on either side lead into a comfortable living room and an office respectively. Voices float from the back of the house. A rush of laughter does little to lift his weary heart, but when he follows the noise of rattling pots and pans into a modern kitchen, he stops short at the sight before him.

Bucky and Sam work around each other. Jokes abound. Bucky threatens to dump ice cubes down Sam's underpants. Sam punches Bucky's arm only to wince.

“You break your hand again?” Bucky asks.

“One time,” Sam whines while shaking his hand. “That happened one time.”

The duffel bag falls from Steve's numb fingers. Its impact against the floor draws the attention of both men, and the smile that lights up their faces... His cheeks are wet. Why are his cheeks wet?

“Bucky? Sam?”

Sam gets there first. “Hey, you're back.” An arm goes around Steve's shoulders to pull him close. Sam's reassuring touch makes him cry harder.

“You're alive. You're real.”

“'Course we are, buddy.”

Sam releases him and stumbles when Bucky shoves him aside. It's accompanied by a quick, “Impatient prick,” from Sam.

Bucky's gaze searches Steve's face, deep and soulful. 

Seconds could be hours. 

Hours could be seconds.

“Welcome home,” Bucky says. 

Broad palms slide up Steve's chest to grasp his nape and urge him forward. He gives ground with a rush of air as the tension rushes out. He sags. Their foreheads touch.

Another, quieter, “Welcome home,” comes.

Their lips touch in a soothing kiss. The affection, the love, wraps itself around Steve's wounded heart and starts reversing the path of the splinter in his heart.

He's home.

**Author's Note:**

> I may or may not continue this and write a mid-credit scene for everyone. Depends on how I feel. This is canon compliant up to Infinity Wars.


End file.
